Wednesday, November 17, 2010

As we head into the colder months of November, December and January our business is supposed to slow down. We planned to use this time for building maintenance, preparing for the upcoming show season, and for taking a well earned deep breath. However, that is not going to be the case.

We have our customer to thank.

The economic news is always negative. Current reports from wall street and large corporations show slow recovery. These statements are forever talked about and economist never see the brighter picture.

We on the other hand, are busy. This show season has allowed us to show more people that fully electric automatic printers are the best way to move their businesses into the future. These conversations have produced orders that will fill us into the new year. We think of it as a gift.

Thank you to all our customers. We look forward to the 2011 show season to expand our customer base and thank our current customers in person.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

The question always comes to this. Where do I make money and what is my best return on investment. That is what needs to be looked at before you can determine how to invest in your future.

The question of screen print versus direct-to-garment equipment is buzzing through the industry. There is an allure the digital side of life. Cleanliness, space constrictions, coolness of the art are all big selling points for that investment. That being said, is there money to be made with these systems? Probably. However, is it the same market? Probably not.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

How exciting. You have ordered your first auto. You have arranged for the fork lift to take it off the truck and place it in your building. You have scheduled the technician to assemble and calibrate the machine. You have the electrician on call and prepared for the install. You think you are ready.

But, you still have the jitters. Why? Because you have forgotten something. You have to be prepared to print. You have to be prepared to personally spend time with your machine and the tech uninterrupted. You have to be involved. HUH?

Be prepared, mechanically and physically.
The assembly and calibration of the machine will need a little manual labor. That means you and your staff. The technician will need a bit of help lifting heads into position and bolting them secure. It would be a good idea for you to stick around and watch and ask questions of what your tech is doing. Your machine will come out of calibration with use and you should learn to maintain the press after he leaves. Take a look at what tools he uses from his tool box. If you do not have these, make them part of your next hardware store visit. If he has a check list, make a copy for your future use.

Keep in mind that you spent a lot of money and you should spend some time as well. You will need to be prepared to turn off your phone and have your employees available or self-directed while the tech is in your building. He is only there for a short time and it will cost you more money to get him back, so stay put. I know for some of you this sound like obvious advice. Trust me, the staff involvement is essential and often skipped.

Be prepared to print.
Okay, you have stayed with your tech. You are one-with-the-press in a zen like trance. You are so excited that your palms sweat. Maybe the sweat is from the manual labor. What next? Printing!

Please remember that you can set-up, print and tear down a 100 piece job in an hour. You will need multiple jobs to get comfortable with the process and put the machine through its paces. So....

Screens coated for the press. (many for many jobs)

Ink

shirts (don't laugh, we have had to go buy them from Wal-mart when a customer wasn't prepared)

Artwork already on film or vellum.

We would suggest a minimum of 500 shirts total to print. Multiple jobs of multiple colors.

What about the huge job that you bought the printer for?

That job is not the technician's responsibility. No it is not the job he should print. It should be the last job that you set up before he leaves. Printing 5000 pieces is your job, not his.

Stay excited.

Be excited and be involved. This is a great adventure and it was a good buy. You will make more money and have more free time. That was the point, wasn't it?

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

As I mentioned last time, I want to go over the best way to prepare for your equipment to arrive. I went over the tools required and preparing for the truck, but what about inside the building?

Let's start with the screen room.
To begin with, no matter what you have heard, you do not need a darkroom. What you do need is light, heat and humidity control. You also need power and water.

To start with, your machinery manufacturer should be able to give you dimensions for plumbing the drain to your sink. You will need some flexibility in connecting all this so have a plumber ready. Not just a guy who owns a wrench, but someone who has done real plumbing and understands that leaks are a problem. You will also need incoming water in both a garden hose and power washer form. Cold water is all you need.

For the screen prep, make sure that you have a work table and your coated screens need a flat, dry, dark place to dry and store. This could be a professional cabinet from the manufacturer or a rack that you constructed with a fan in it.

The power requirement for the screen room is pretty simple. Most items will need a standard 120V outlet. The only item that may need special wiring is your exposure unit. Confirm with the manufacturer the amp draw on the unit and whether it has a plug installed. If no plug, you will need an electrician. I will get to that person later.

The printing room.
For a manual print shop, you will need space and time. Have the tools available and a person with some mechanical skills and patience ready to assemble and level the press. This is where keeping the manual is important. Presses need to be level to themselves, not to the ground. So do not use a bubble level and follow the press leveling steps in the manual. Unless you have followed all the steps, your press will not register. No matter who you bought the press from.

For an auto shop, you will probably have a technician to help install. Have all the parts uncrated and ready for the installer. Then stay out of the way until they are ready for you. However, when they say that you are needed, be prepared. I will list the items necessary for this adventure in my next blog.

The dryer will need to have its legs attached, the exhaust fan vented and a hard wire cut-off breaker installed. This is where I get to vent about electricians. I am not talking about Uncle Buddy who fixed your lamp when your were in high school. I am not talking about a guy who has worked on his garage. I am not talking about a house electrician who has installed a few outlets. I am talking about a person who installed industrial equipment. One who has a multi-meter and understands how to use it. One who has heard of 3 phase power and understands how it works. Pay the money for the real guy. You spent this much on equipment, now get it installed correctly.

Make sure you have the power specs from the manufacturer. All these dryers need a 4 line system for single phase. All these dryers will need to be hard wired. They do not come with a plug. An industrial electrician will understand that.

Supplies are required.
I will list in my next post what you must have for the first day to get running. Many shops come with a start up kit but these are just to get started and you will need more.

We want to make sure that our customers start on the right footing. We want them to be successful. We understand that starting a new shop can be frustrating but let's make sure that the frustration is not from being ill-prepared. Have the people and items that you need ready and available and the manufacturers and their representatives will help you get through.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

We are always glad to say that we are shipping equipment every day. In this economy, it is a feeling of security. As always, it is a feeling of accomplishment. It is nice to know that our products and services are thought well of.

One of the things that we regularly see with machinery installations is that the receiver of the goods is not fully prepared for the installation. This is in both small and large shops. From both the idea of a new flash dryer to the installation of a full shop of automatic machinery, we run into the same problems. Let me see if some of these tips will help future equipment owners.

Receiving the merchandise.

Be prepared for whatever type of vehicle that is delivering your product. That means the UPS guy. If you asked for the flash to ship COD, then have your money ready. He doesn't have all day. For larger purchases, a semi-trailer will be at your dock. Again, see if you need a check for the freight and have it ready. These drivers have many stops to make and they get paid by the hour. Let's move.

Now when the big truck arrives, you have to be prepared to get your merchandise off the truck and into your shop. You did not buy furniture from a furniture store. You do your own install.

If you have a dock height building, then make sure that you have a pallet jack or a forklift immediately available. It is not the drivers job to get it off his truck. It is yours.

You can request a lift gate on the truck. That will cost more and the crates that screen printing machinery requires are usually too large to fit on a lift gate. You still need a way to get it off the lift gate and into your building.

You can get a roll-back tow truck. We use these often for large items and big parking lots. These are flat bed tows with a winch system. They will drag the crate onto their bed, then lower the crate to the ground. They are usually $75 and do a great job. However, you need a parking lot and they will not help you get large items into your building.

Rent or borrow a fork truck or hi-lo. These can be rented by the hour. It will solve all your problems and they are not very expensive.

Tools you will need.

Did I mention that this is not furniture? Yes, I believe I did.

You will need all of the following:

Hammer

pry bar

Utility knife

drill -- complete with driver bits

US or metric socket and open end wrench set

allen head set

tape measure

level

blood, sweat, tears

beer and pizza -- after you are done

Be prepared to get rid of all the lumber that the machinery arrives in. Be prepared to install the parts. Even the stuff that comes on UPS has some assembly required.

Do not throw out any paperwork, CD-ROM or other possible reference guide. They are usually packed in a place that will keep them from falling out of the crate. Check all your packaging carefully. And, trust me, it did have instructions when it left the factory.

Take a deep breath.

Ok, you have it in your building. You have discarded all the packaging materials. You have kept all the instructions. Now take a deep breath and eat your pizza.

On my next installment I will talk about having the building prepared for the installation. That should be fun. I do get to define "electrician" and that should irritate a few.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Brown has produced conveyor ovens for over 30 years. Many of the steel beasts are still in production. That is why we have a reputation of building some of the finest equipment in the industry and we have repeat customers. However, with so many of them in the field we take an amazing amount of service calls daily. Here are some tips for maintaining and using these dryers.

Thermocouple:

In all Brown and Harco brand dryers that have thermocouple heat controls the t-couple is located under the center heater and is designed to read the air temperature of the chamber at belt level. That means that you should have your dryer set at about 340. This is the oven temperature, not the temp of your garments. These temps are based on time within the chamber. Just like baking a cake, you have to leave the shirts in for the proper amount of time.

Many of our competitor's units place their t-couple inside a heater element. With these units your temperature settings need to be higher, maybe as high as 800. Remember you are reading the temp of an element, not the chamber. If an element goes out, you will not know it on your digital control but your shirts won't cure.

What I am telling you is that if you set your Brown or Harco dryers at 500+ your will be wasting power and not getting any control over the heat. Turn it down already.

Power Fluctuations:

We get calls, usually in the summer months, that dryers are suddenly not curing. After checking out the dryer we determine that it is functioning properly. What has happened is that the power companies are altering the amount of power going to the facility and the dryer has less power to keep the heaters hot. Very common when all the air conditioners are running. But this makes the dryer run cooler and react slower to shirts being fed into it. All you can do is slow down, wait a day or so, and then the power will be restored.

Working heaters:

Older dryers did not have indicator lights for the heaters. Newer dryers do. The lights are designed to blink on and off when the heaters are working. If they are on all the time, there is a problem. If they do not turn on, you have another problem. Either way, call the manufacturer.

For older dryers, when you notice a drop in heat (like when your shirts aren't cured) then you need to check the heaters manually. Here is a cheap test. Use a 2x4 that will go through the chamber. Staple toilet paper the length of the board. Raise the board to within 1" of the heaters and prop it up so that the belt will run. Leave it in position for 30 minutes. When you remove the board, you should have a scorch mark for each heater. Call us with your findings.

Belt and fan motors:

Get over the fact that you will need new motors about every 10 years. If the fans do not work, the air flow in the dryer will be affected and the heat will fluctuate.

With belt motors, you need the motor control too. Suck it up and spend the $300. Lasts 10 years and if you don't you will keep replacing parts every year and a half.

Final suggestion:

Nothing against electricians. Do not call one. They are usually household type and have no idea what they are looking at. Textile dryers are simple to fix. Most of the time, an operator and a phone with a few tools and you are good to go. Follow the instructions of the manufacturer's service tech.

We look forward to your calls. Sometimes, we will tell you that your unit is too old. There is no such thing as Hospice care for a conveyor oven. Not worth the money and there aren't any sentiments attached to the thing. Good tools require maintenance and occasional replacement.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

BrownMfg is a member of many industry forums. Even on our competitor's sites. However, I will admit, we are trolls. We lurk, we watch, we even reply with emails. Many would say that it is bad to troll, but I believe it is better. Let me continue.

As a member of these sites, we are able to read and respond to all the posts. Most often the items posted do not contain content that we are experts on. Many times they are in parts of the industry that we have nothing to do with. Ok, we just read as many of you do.

However, many posts are counterproductive to earning money as screen printers. These, all I can do is shake my head. As examples, making equipment instead of buying. Posters want an opinion as to whether they made something worth using. My first response is that the time they took making the equipment should have been sent selling print jobs. They could have sold enough jobs during that time to pay for a really nice press that will give them quality work.

I am sure I have mentioned that we are in this to make money, not play with power tools.

Other posters want an opinion on a product. As a manufacturer, how can I respond to that? We will not bash a competitor.

Then there are the postings that comment on our products. As the manufacturer, we cannot get into a conversation online without risking our reputation. We often know who the post was written by. They have chosen not to call us or have decided that we are not willing to service them to their demands. How can we comment on any of that.

A good reason to be a troll.

So, for those who wish more active participation by manufacturers, take a look at the reasons we are silent.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

I received a call from an organizer for one of our industry's trade shows. They wanted our opinion on adding another show to the schedule. Where, when, and the silly questions, why? The why question got me a bit ticked off. Not at the expo person, but at the attendees.

Please, let me explain.

Trade shows are regional events. They last 3 days and offer opportunities for the attendee and the exhibitor. In questionable economic times, all avenues for advancement should be explored. We need new ways to grow our business including new products, marketing ideas and production tools. Where do people get this information? From trade shows!

For the attendee:

At a show, which for each attendee is really only a 1 day visit, you can meet a number of people who can help you. First, there are industry expert, and those who claim to be, wandering the floor and offering seminars. Next, there are vendors. Listen to their pitch, you might learn something and get a new idea. Finally, there are other people like yourself. Do not commiserate, ask questions of what is working. There are real gems out there that you could apply to your business and increase your sales and margins.

As a thought, you are never too busy to get more business. Summer is no different than fall. The baseball season is no different than Christmas. If your business cannot handle you learning something new for 1 day, then you have other things to worry about.

For the exhibitor:

Quit your belly-achin' about how many shows you have to do. When else are 2000+ people delivered to your lap for possible sales? You can't get that kind of traffic with anything else, especially face-to-face intervention. Trade shows are a huge creator of product interest and customer service. Get out there and talk to the people on the floor. It is well worth your time.

For the expo company:

Ok, we know you are in this for profit. We all are. However, you will get a bigger draw if you look like you have a bigger show. If you rented a hall and you did not sell all the booths, hand out a few free ones you didn't sell and the exhibitors will bring more stuff and you will look bigger. Costs you a little carpet and the attendees will get more out of the event.

As for your expansion, look for new markets. The eastern seaboard is full up. So is Florida and Texas. Have you noticed that the rest of the country is full of textile decorators? You are putting on regional shows. Pick a new region. Try the bay area, maybe Arizona. The midwest is great, but Chicago's been done. Come on, mix it up a little. That is the only way to get new attendees.

Now you know how I really feel. It is the attendee's "too busy" response that irritates me. It is the exhibitor's "too many shows" response that irritates me. It is the expo company's "same-place-same-stuff" concept that irritates me.

I have mentioned before, we all in this to make money. We want to earn enough to enjoy life. The best way to do this is the sell more at real margins. Selling more means offering new products and new ideas. Real margins mean good tools and understanding the flow of business. All of this is found on a trade show floor. So attendees, wipe the ink off your hands; exhibitors, put your stuff on a truck; and expo companies, show some flexibility.

Hope to see all of you at all of the ISS, NBM, DAX, SGIA and NNEP shows. Let's look for more opportunities in the future.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

I have spent the morning redesigning our layout grid for the Set-n-Go product line. Everyone here has an opinion, of course. What we all agree on is that every shop needs a pre-reg device. Either a home-made version or one purchased from a manufacturer. The one from a manufacturer are probably more accurate but they are all necessary.

Why? you ask. Because, as I have mentioned in earlier blogs, we are in this to make money. Not to play with screens and art.

What should one of these systems do?

The point of a pre-registration system is to make the location of your art to screen accurate from color to color. This is to make you faster. If you can load your screens onto the press, have almost immediate registration and never adjust the location of your platens, you will be faster. If you are faster, then you make more money.

This speed applies to one-color jobs as well. When you load a screen with a one color design, you want it to always be placed in the perfect spot to print. Not low, high, or crooked. Don't laugh, you have exposed an image crooked.

What should be part of one of these systems?

You have to start with the artwork. The registration marks on your artwork should be located in the same place on every job. One-color jobs too. These marks register colors to each other, square artwork, and they locate the art onto the garment. A template in your computer should have these marks that print onto all separations.

These marks then need to be on a fixture. This fixture can be a stand alone light table or on the glass of your exposure unit. The fixture should feature 3 points that your frame will seat against. Line up the registration marks from your art to the marks on the fixture.

When you are finished, the artwork will be in the same location on all screens. This is very fast in the darkroom and on press.

How does this make you money?

Time is money, right? If you spend time compensating for messed up screens then the labor cost for your job goes up. Even if you don't count your own labor (which is a whole different topic) wouldn't you rather be golfing?

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Either you are expanding your business or your current equipment is worn out, you are looking for a new piece of machinery. The question is, what is the best use of my money? There are many options available. Multiple manufacturers have great new products. Many manufacturers and suppliers offer reconditioned machines. There is always the used market through industry forums, EBay and Craigslist. What to do, what to do.

Let's start with used machines. You can find these anywhere. The web, local competitors, trade publications all list machines that other printers are wanting to sell. This is a lot like buying used car from someone you don't know. There is a reason they are getting rid of it that they are not going to tell you. Let's see how that effects different pieces of machinery.

Conveyor Dryers. No matter what they say, something is broken that is expensive to fix. I say this from experience. I have taken a lot of used dryers as trade-ins. They are never fully functional. It may have been running when the original owner replaced it but they are replacing it for a reason. If the machine is available at an auction remember that the company that is out of business did not have the money to maintain it. Repair costs will range for $250 to $1000 depending on what is broken.

Manual textile printers. The biggest risk you take as a buyer of used machinery is registration. A press will have increased problems as it ages due to wear and tear. Maintenance can prevent much of this, however, some presses do not age well. If there is registration issues they can be expensive and time consuming to remedy. If the press holds register well but has some broken parts, make sure that those parts are still available.

Flash cure units. These are used up. Do not buy. You can purchase new ones for very little money.

Exposure systems. These may be a good deal. You will probably have to replace rubber and reseal the frame but if you are handy they are a pretty good buy. Make sure that the bulb is currently available.

Automatic textile presses. How handy are you? How good of a printer are you? Can you figure one of these out without manufacturer's help. When you get done, will you make any money on it within 3 months without serious aggravation? If you can answer yes to all of these, then take a look. But parts are expensive and your time is valuable.

Reconditioned machinery is usually a good deal. The manufacturer or distributor has made sure that the machinery is functional. Parts have been replaced with new or reconditioned parts. There is usually a warranty on the unit for 30 days or so. There is still a risk. These are reconditioned but they are not new.

Conveyor dryers.Heaters, motors and switches can work one day and break the next. Within a few months you may be repairing the unit because the original parts that are still in the unit are old. You will have maintenance costs within the first year. They may be minimal but you risk the $1000 of another rebuild.

Manual textile printers. These are a good buy. The registration has been secured. The press is functional. They are just dirty. Yes, they are really dirty. Reconditioned does not mean new paint. If you are willing to clean them up or work around the "Ugly Betty" effect they they are a good buy.

Flash cure units. If you find one that is reconditioned, then buy it. Rare, these things. These and heat press machines usually get used up and thrown out.

Exposure units. This is another good buy. The seal has been rebuilt. The risk is in the electronics and the vacuum motor. You may have to replace these sooner than you would like.

Automatic textile printers. Buying one of these has the same risk a buying a reconditioned dryer. You could have very high maintenance costs very quickly. Make sure you are ready to be your own repairman and that the parts for the machine are still available.

New machinery. OK, so you wince at the price. So did I when I bought my new car. But, it starts every day. I did not have maintenance costs for a number of years. I have been serviced very well by the company I purchased it from. If I were purchasing an item that directly drove the productivity of my business, then I would buy new. A printer makes money when he sells jobs at a good margin and delivers them quickly. If time is spent on maintenance or down-time then profit margins suffer. Remember, you are in this for the $.

Take a look at all your options. Balance your risks. Spend wisely, your profit margins are at stake.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Just recently, the baseball jersey printing season was completed. Many printers labored long hours to make sure that the local little league looked great and they had shirts for the first game. The questions comes, did they make any money?

Some did and some didn't. Just like every other print job. The reason that some made money is the speed that the job was processed. The least amount of handling is the best way to make money. Man power is expensive so it should not be wasted on low margin work.

How to handle a t-ball job.

Let's outline a typical recreational league numbering job. First there are many teams. Often, 10 or more. Then each team has about 15 players per team. Usually it is a 1-color number on a colored 50/50 tee. Black is the most popular because of pricing. This gives a print change every 15 shirts, or a shirt color change every team.

There are a couple of ways to handle this order that are profitable. You can either sort the laundry into stacks of numbers or stacks of teams. I prefer teams because I only want to sort 1 time. If you own a numbering system, that is the way to go. If not, then sort by number.

When you are putting the image on the garment, you should screen print. This is, after all, a for-profit venture you are running. Charity is nice. Especially when there are children involved. But this is not the time to donate. Therefore, turn off the heat transfer machine and the cutter and walk away from the transfers. Cost on that is about $1 per number. Did I mention the desire for profit?

If you have a numbering system, use it. If not, burn your 15 screens and get over it. These screens cost $.060 each to image and the print is $.06 per impression of ink. The labor is the same whether you transfer or print. Total cost per imprint is $.010. That's right, 10 cents. This is where the money is made.

If you can sort the laundry 1 time, screen print directly on the garment and ask for payment on delivery, then you are making a profit. That is the reason we do this, right?

For more information on athletic numbering systems please check out our site. www.brownmfg.net.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Investing in your first automatic machine may appear as a difficult financial decision.However, when you break it down by the numbers, many companies discover that automated machinery saves them money in the long and short run. The following information is designed to show a comparison between a small or midsize shop with manual equipment versus a small to mid-size shop with automated equipment.

Defining a shop size.The small to midsize shop with manual equipment is a shop with one or several manuals, 1 or more hourly employees and an owner operator.

Production Rates.The following Graph is based on the average production rate of a top-notch employee manually printing over an 8 hour day at $10.00 pr/hr.

The following graph is based on the average production rate of a top notch employee automatically printing only, over an 8 hour day at $10.00 pr/hr.

*This graph does not include expenses such as Benefits, workman’s comp, insurance or typical day to day employee aggravation.

Comparison. A shop output is at least four times greater when using an automated machine and employing the same amount of people.

Many owners find that when they personally produce a conservative 300 shirts per hour, they can restructure their facility, use their employee time more effectively or eliminate extra employees.

ROI when comparing Manual printing to Automatic printing.

Based on a 1 year business cycle, using manual equipment only. Total production of 122,400 pieces.

Employee cost at $10/hour with 8 hour days

$20,800.00

Workman’s Compensation

$350.00

Insurance

$350.00

Total Employee Cost (approximate)

$21,500.00

Based on a 1 year business cycle, using automated machinery and a restructured workforce. Owner production of 288,000 pieces in 4 hours per day.

Machine cost of $30,000 on a 60 month lease

$7,800.00

Total Cost (approximate)

$7,800.00

Not only is your shop 4+ times more productive, you have also increased your profit by $13,700 without a change in sales.

Job Size.The common misconception about automatic printing is the size of order that is required to make an automatic useful.

Manual printing in a standard week with 1 press

JOB

Shirt count and color

Colors

Sides

TIME

#1

150 light

2

1

2.5 hrs

#2

50 light

3

2

1.5 hrs

#3

95 dark

1

2

2.5 hrs

#4

250 dark

2

2

6.5 hrs

#5

400 dark

3

1

4.5 hrs

#6

25 dark

1

2

50 mins

#7

35 light

1

2

50 mins

#8

75 light

2

2

2.5 hrs

#9

100 dark

3

1

2 hrs

#10

250 light

3

1

3.5 hrs

#11

25 light

2

1

30 mins

#12

45 light

1

1

30 mins

#13

18 dark

2

2

50 mins

#14

180 dark

2

2

5.5 hrs

#15

65 dark

1

2

2.5 hrs

#16

40 light

2

1

30 mins

Total time for the above job chart = 35 hours of continuous printing

Automatic printing in a standard week.

JOB

Shirt count and color

Colors

Sides

TIME

#1

150 light

2

1

20 mins

#2

50 light

3

2

20 mins

#3

95 dark

1

2

30 mins

#4

250 dark

2

2

50 mins

#5

400 dark

3

1

45 mins

#6

25 dark

1

2

20 mins

#7

35 light

1

2

20 mins

#8

75 light

2

2

30 mins

#9

100 dark

3

1

20 mins

#10

250 light

3

1

40 mins

#11

25 light

2

1

20 mins

#12

45 light

1

1

20 mins

#13

18 dark

2

2

30 mins

#14

180 dark

2

2

50 mins

#15

65 dark

1

2

30 mins

#16

40 light

2

1

30 mins

Total time for the above job chart automatic approximately= 8.5 hrs of continuous print time.

Thank you for the time to review the difference between automatic printing and manual printing. We hope that this gives a clear picture why most shops need to consider adding an automatic to their current production.